St.-Martin-Kirche

The St Martin’s Church stands in Steinbergkirche, a village in Schleswig-Flensburg district. Built in the late 12th century as a simple field-stone church, it was the first building to give its name to the settlement. The round-arched windows of the original choir were later bricked up, but the narrow Romanesque arch between nave and choir remains visible. The church contains several outstanding works of art. The altarpiece, carved about 1480–90, shows the Crucifixion with 75 figures and five horses on Calvary. A late-medieval triumph crucifix group above the rood arch is attributed to the circle of Claus Berg. The 1640 Renaissance pulpit displays carved scenes of Christ’s life in low German verses. Visitors enter through the 1738 north porch and see the west tower built in 1753 with its granite facing and curved cap. The whitewash applied in the 1880s was stripped off in 1999, revealing the changing layers of masonry. The churchyard is lined with lime trees and enclosed by a field-stone wall that holds old gravestones up to 1870.